


Paradox of Suspense

by honeycaat



Category: Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, noel is best wingman, rarepairs for days, rated only for language and moral bankruptcy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 06:00:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29484858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honeycaat/pseuds/honeycaat
Summary: Peoples’ favourite words of wisdom are always that things will change in time. But is that really the case? Humanity wears a pattern no matter what time period you look at. There will always be people that gain from others’ misfortunes. There will always be those who take advantage of anything and everything. And there will always be people who sit back and watch the chaos unfold. Regardless of someone’s circumstances, they will always have a choice; can you honestly say you took hold of your fate? Rather than letting life sweep you off your feet, open your eyes and decide where you will go from now on. Sara was tired of letting everyone lead her blindly through life. She decided she was going to choose to be someone who watched the world burn instead.
Relationships: Houshou Hanon/Touin Rina, Karen/Alala (Mermaid Melody), Nanami Lucia/Seira, Noel/Lanhua (Mermaid Melody), Sara/Coco (Mermaid Melody)
Kudos: 1





	1. Return to the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Even when the audience knows how the story will end, the retelling of said story will still induce a sense of suspense in them.

Noel had absolutely no feelings about being called in by the Chancellor. She was very sure she hadn’t done anything to warrant his wrath, so if anything Noel was rather dumbfounded. 

“Is this arrangement something you can do, Noel?”

Noel blinked at the Chancellor for a few moments before letting out a hesitant “Sure.”

“Great!” he brightened. “I’m sure you two will get along swimmingly. I’ll have her fill out all of the rooming paperwork so you don’t have to deal with it again.”

Had Noel been listening, she might’ve had the chance to decline the unwanted roommate. Instead, all of her hard work to dorm by herself just swirled down the drain. She hadn’t even caught what the Chancellor had said about her new roommate. Noel could only trudge back to her room with an air of annoyance, and be glad that her classes started later that day. As she collapsed on her bed, she stared at the ceiling and put more thought into the wrench that had just been thrown into her plans for university. This girl must really be something. Part of the reason their University was so elite was because you could only be a new acceptance as a year one student. Noel  _ also  _ knew that the first-years had a separate dorm, which meant her roommate would have to be a second-year. With no dorm transfers allowed, where did that leave this mysterious girl? A second-year who hadn’t been on campus for the entirety of her first year? Perhaps Noel hadn’t fucked things up as much as she initially thought. Things were certainly going to get interesting real soon. 

Sara told herself that she was wholly prepared for the looks and words that would follow her around for a while. With such a small university, she knew it wouldn’t be long before she was the latest gossip. However, Sara found infinite solace in the fact that no matter what they said, she was the one who had won. How many other university students could say that they had spent their first year traveling the world for dance? She couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face; after such a long time, she was starting to learn how to brush off the things that people said in favour of herself. After everything Sara had dealt with in high school, she couldn’t afford to keep putting others first. Admittedly, this was easier said than done, and it would take time to be able to change such long-standing habits. Regardless, Sara was determined to make university better than high school had been. 

Being a dancer her whole life, Sara was used to schedules tighter than a corset, but there was still something suffocating about starting university with lectures and not even being able to see her dorm. She was infinitely grateful to her manager for forcing her to keep up with first-year curriculum, as she couldn’t imagine having to take extra classes just to catch up. Although Sara wanted to complain about the switch from dancing full-time to taking classes, being a dance major meant things weren’t all that different. Many of the classes required for her major involved dancing, so the only change was really switching the time she had spent traveling with normal general education classes. Sara had even gone ahead and gotten approval from the Chancellor to form a dance club as an extracurricular. Whether or not her club turned out to be successful or not, though, remained to be seen. 

As Sara sat in the practically empty lecture hall that was supposed to be her morning lecture, she started putting together ideas for the club together in her mind. She knew she could use her connections, but it felt less authentic that way. At most, Sara would ask for help from her ever-loyal manager. She was fairly sure there was some kind of yearly competition sponsored by the university board, so that would probably be the yearly end-game for her club. Maybe Sara was getting ahead of herself and the club wouldn’t even get enough members to be approved, but she was willing to allow a little hope. She had won competitions all over the world, surely she was capable of running a small club? Unfortunately, the Professor ended up being on time, and further daydreaming on Sara’s part was whisked away. 

Though her first lecture was a mere hour and a half, Sara thought she had aged by half a decade in the time it took the professor to explain the syllabus. If that’s how an introductory lecture went with this professor, she was almost afraid of how the normal lectures would go. Sara found her thoughts shifting quickly when she realized she was finally going to be able to see her dorm. The Chancellor had informed her that her arrival was rather unordinary, and so dorm arrangements were last minute. Obviously, she had no say in this aspect, but he had been nice enough to offer her a choice between a couple of girls as roommates. Not that a file on each would do much good in helping Sara decide if she liked them, but she decided on a business major. She figured a business major would be busy and wouldn’t have time to bother her if Sara decided she didn’t like her. Her choice definitely had nothing to do with the fact that their schedules conflicted most of the day, leaving Sara alone in the dorm until nightfall. While she was anxious to meet her soon to be roommate, Sara was perfectly content in the prospect of taking a short and uninterrupted nap before her next lecture. 

Sara would have been surprised by how spacious the dorm room was, had she been at any other school. Tuition wasn’t high for nothing. She felt a little bad, as it was immediately obvious that her roommate had taken the time to make the space her own. Sara didn’t mind at all and was careful not to snoop. After living on her own all through high school, she had become accustomed to bland spaces and few belongings. She was, however, surprised to learn that beyond the common room of the dorm, they had separate rooms for sleeping. Finding herself much too tired to be surprised by the amenities of such an obviously rich school, Sara set her alarm and fell asleep immediately.

When Sara woke up, her roommate had either come and gone again or not come back at all, as she was nowhere in sight. She had no time to think about trivial matters if she was going to make it to her next lecture on time, so instead, she grabbed her things and set a brisk pace. Among the many adjustments Sara found herself facing, the change of scenery was one of them. Certainly, she had never seen a school decorated the way this one was. It was much more  _ green _ than she had been expecting; if it wasn’t a building, it was neatly developed nature. She made a mental note to take more time to explore the campus, see what secrets it had to offer. 

Once again, the class size was not much different from that of a high school— no more than thirty students. Some people would probably find such a situation enticing; fewer people means more individualized work, but Sara knew fewer people meant she was more noticeable. This was mostly a problem because Sara didn’t  _ want _ to be noticed. She had spent lots of time cultivating an aura of invisibility, and she wasn’t about to let university be the end of it. Though, if she was going to make her dance club hopes work out, she guessed that aura was going to crumble, and fast. Sara promised herself that she wouldn’t spend the beginning of every class lost in thought, but whether she kept it up or not was another story entirely. The first few days of every class were an exception anyway; it was always syllabus this and introduction that. She could only be grateful for the lack of ice-breakers asked of her. And, just as her first lecture had been, there had not actually been any sort of lesson plan. 

Sara found herself unconsciously meandering towards her dorm. She had little time to worry about her roommate, but now that their meeting was inevitable, she felt the familiar sinking feeling in her stomach. Had it not been dusk and rapidly getting colder, Sara might have wandered more. Alas, Sara was not dressed for the chill that the starry night brought with it, and she made it back to her dorm quickly. Standing in front of the door momentarily, Sara felt nothing more than cold and existential dread. But, really, what’s the worst that could happen? 

Noel was surprised when it was already dark and she had seen no sign of her roommate. Lost in thought, all work on her assignments ceased, and she lost track of time quickly. Noel’s daydreaming only came to a jarring end when she heard the door open. In walked a surprisingly tall ginger, who looked oddly familiar to Noel. The two girls just stared at each other for a few seconds before Sara introduced herself.

“Sorry for intruding,” she said. “My name is Sara, I hope we can get along.”

“Sara?” Noel paused, and Sara nodded, wondering if she was in the wrong place somehow.

“Nice to meet you, Sara.” Noel started. “I’m Noel. I’m also sorry I couldn’t meet you earlier today. The Chancellor sort of surprised me.”

Noel watched as Sara didn’t make a move, but smiled. And then she realized why Sara was familiar.

“Oh. You’re  _ that _ Sara,” slipped out of Noel’s mouth unconsciously and Sara froze.

Noel was thrust back into memories of high school and immediately thought of Coco. Looks like things were going to get  _ really _ interesting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peoples’ favourite words of wisdom are always that things will change in time. But is that really the case? Humanity wears a pattern no matter what time period you look at. There will always be people that gain from others’ misfortunes. There will always be those who take advantage of anything and everything. And there will always be people who sit back and watch the chaos unfold. Regardless of someone’s circumstances, they will always have a choice; can you honestly say you took hold of your fate? Rather than letting life sweep you off your feet, open your eyes and decide where you will go from now on. Sara was tired of letting everyone lead her blindly through life. She decided she was going to choose to be someone who watched the world burn instead.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even when the audience knows how the story will end, the retelling of said story will still induce a sense of suspense in them.

Sara wanted to die.  _ That  _ Sara? What the fuck did that mean? She was very sure she’d never met Noel before, so how could Noel know her? 

“Sorry, do we know each other?” Sara asked.

“Er,” Noel laughed nervously. “Sorry, I thought you were someone else . . .”

Sara breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, okay.”

Obviously, Noel was lying. She knew very well who Sara was, though this was their first time meeting in person. Of course, given the  _ way _ in which Noel knew her, it wasn’t the least bit surprising that she didn’t know who Noel was. Everything that Noel knew about Sara was information given to her by Coco. She wondered in passing if Coco knew that Sara was attending this university. She hadn’t said anything, so Noel figured her friend was none the wiser. She couldn’t stop herself from smiling. University was about to get a lot more fun for Noel. She watched Sara like a hawk as the girl pulled her phone from her pocket and answered an incoming call. The common room of their dorm was just small enough that Noel could hear the unmistakable voice of a man on the other end of Sara’s phone call. 

“Sorry, my manager brought my things,” Sara said after hanging up.

“Manager?!” Noel exclaimed, too late for Sara, who had slipped out of the dorm, to hear.

Manager? Suddenly, Noel was a lot less sure this was the same Sara that Coco had told her about. Only like celebrities had managers. She supposed that would make sense; coming to campus as a second year, being favoured by the Chancellor, a manager, all things that would be easily explained if she were a celebrity. Coco was also a good judge of character. She had once told Noel that Sara possessed an unreal amount of charisma. If anyone could spot a possible celebrity-type, it was Coco. Satisfied with her conclusion, Noel thought about texting her best friend and telling her the exciting news. Well, she  _ could _ let Coco know . . . or she could play wingman. 

Sara mentally cursed her manager for deciding to show up so late. She was tired and already had enough to deal with. Spotting him with her things, she huffed and stomped in his direction.

“Gaito, I’ve half a mind to kill you right here, right now.”

He grinned. “Yeah, right. Anyway, did you do what I asked?”

“For the love of God, I’m not going to help you look for a boyfriend at  _ my _ school!” she gaped.

“What? Why not?”

“If you’re so desperate, why don’t you enroll and find one yourself?” Sara quickly collected her things.

Gaito laughed, “Your father pays me enough that I’m set for life, why would I need to enroll?”

“Case in point,” Sara smirked. “Later, loser.”

When Sara returned to the dorm room, she found Noel staring holes into her phone. She wondered if something had happened. It looked like she was trying to make a tough decision. Inevitably, the sound of the door shutting behind Sara snapped the girl out of her concentration. After looking Sara up and down, it looked like Noel really wanted to say something.

“What?” 

“You only have two pretty small suitcases?” Noel asked nothing but curiosity in her tone. 

“Oh, yeah.” Sara tossed them into her room without a second thought. “Just essentials, really.”

“Uh, don’t you need like, clothes and stuff?”

Sara looked at her roommate thoughtfully. “I was going to go shopping this weekend to expand my wardrobe if you’re interested.”

“You’re just going to buy a new closet?!” Noel asked incredulously.

“I don’t see why not? It would probably be improper for me to go around wearing the same week's worth of outfits.”

“I suppose so,” Noel shook her head.

For the second time in a matter of hours, Sara had sent Noel reeling. She was sure as ever now that Sara was a celebrity. It wasn’t that Noel couldn’t also afford to do something so grandiose, but only a certain kind of person could even entertain such a thought. Of course, it wouldn’t stop Noel from joining her. It wouldn’t hurt to see what was new in the world of fashion. There was only so much free time she had being a business major and all. It was also the perfect time  _ and  _ place to put her master plan into action. She was immensely glad she had decided against just straight up telling Coco that Sara was at their university. She wasn’t going to tell Coco at all, no, she was going to show Coco. What better way to kick off the second year of university than to reunite Sara and Coco? 

Being in different majors meant that Sara and Noel had very different schedules, which worked out well for Noel. While Noel and Coco were also in different majors, they had more of a common schedule. All she had to do was make sure Sara and Coco didn’t come into contact before Saturday. Though, she supposed she was also getting ahead of herself, as she hadn’t gotten Coco to agree to come yet. Noel knew it was more likely that Coco would agree to her request if she asked in person instead of over text, so she waited patiently for their class together that afternoon. 

When desperation for a future event sinks in, life couldn’t go slower. Noel could’ve sworn that she looked at the clock and it wasn’t moving. She just needed to get through her morning lecture and she could start planning. After all, she was a diligent student. Or, that’s what she told herself as she watched the professor before her talk without hearing anything coming from his mouth. So much for that. Dropping her head into her hands, Noel decided to let time pass her by and accept her fate. 

As she stared at the clock for the nth time in the past hour, she waited for the cue that her lecture was finally over. As soon as the class was dismissed, Noel and a good half of the other students were out the door. Even though Noel’s next lecture wasn’t for another forty-five minutes, she and Coco usually got together before it to hang out. There was only so much talking you could do during a lecture. Since the lecture hall was near one of the many communal hang-out spots on campus, that’s where Noel and Coco would meet. Today, though, Noel had to be careful. In order for her plan to work, Coco couldn’t suspect she was up to something. This was difficult because Coco could usually read her like a book. But Noel was determined; she would see this thing through to the end whether it worked out or not. She spotted Coco and her blonde hair from a mile away, and mentally composed herself. 

“Noel!” Coco greeted her.

“We saw each other yesterday, but you always greet me as if we haven’t seen each other in months!” Noel giggled and sat across from her friend.

“What, I can’t be excited to see you?” Coco raised her eyebrow.

“I’m just teasing you, y’know.”

Coco rolled her eyes. “As am I, of course.”

“Anyways, my friend told me about this really good restaurant, but I don’t wanna go by myself,” Noel pouted.

“I’ll go with you! Good food is always a great excuse to go out.” Coco nodded solemnly. 

“True, true.” Noel agreed. “How about this weekend?”

“Hmm, I don’t see why not, my lecture on Friday already got canceled.”

“Great! Man, I'm so excited. How long has it been since we had good food,”

“Way too long.” Coco lamented.

As the two girls walked into their lecture hall, Noel couldn’t help but smile. Everything was slowly falling into place. She just had to watch and wait. She couldn’t help but feel that everything would work out by the end. Call it her business major instincts if you will.

**Author's Note:**

> i know i have my shiosetsu fic that's on indefinite hiatus, but i wrote myself into a wall there and here i am LOL. anyways mermaid melody is so underappreciated so i'm contributing!! coco/sara rarepair time!!!!


End file.
